A brand-new fintech business which I was introduced to previously this year. Currensea Card Autoroute…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive way to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good idea.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits between you and your existing current account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You just spend as you would on a typical debit card and the money is taken from your current account– just without the typical 3% fee.
Oh, and is complimentary to make an application for, which also helps.
There are likewise some interesting travel advantages if you pick a paid strategy, but the totally free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a service model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and for free or cheaper than the competition
include more and more features which your existing consumers don’t really need or desire
add costs, charges or constraints to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Revolut, monzo and curve are currently in Phase 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Card Autoroute
It is a complimentary direct debit card to utilize abroad and which instantly recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex costs, then you don’t need a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which use benefits and charge 0% FX charges are few and far in between. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which provide a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to use abroad
you want an item which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no fees and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a very basic process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, globally).
Your bank account bank automatically confirms that you have adequate cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. adds a 0.5% cost if you have the free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automatic spend notice via the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is taken from your current account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I decided to sprinkle out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 arranged to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
But converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is just about to occur (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion costs happening in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Fortunately in the last few years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards guarantees huge cost savings (85%) and a great app.
I believe the finest bit may be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can spend cash you have in your existing current account with less stress over running out of cash and the additional action. That does not imply it is best.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the awful and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Necessary Plan of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make profits from our Important Plan whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free amount on all our plans, full information can be found on our rates plans.
Subscription costs.
We charge a yearly membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription cost likewise removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we get a small % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be credited you. Currensea Card Autoroute